A Fair Exchange
by Bexiekun
Summary: In Riften, an unwitting thief gets on the wrong side of a certain Dark Brotherhood assassin.


**SLIGHT SPOILERS FOR THE DARK BROTHERHOOD QUESTLINE IN SKYRIM AHEAD. I have warned you, so if you keep on reading, don't whine at me.**

**This isn't the sort of thing I usually write, I usually do humour or romance. I'm no good with gore or icky things, and this is also the first time I've tried writing in first person, so I hope it's okay.**

**I squealed like a little girl when I got the Summon Spectral Assassin power during the Dark Brotherhood quests. I love Lucien Lachance. In fact, I haven't met anybody who doesn't love him. Weird, as he's a sadistic, evil, murdering psychopath. I dunno. Maybe it's the voice. He does have a nice voice. xD**

**Anyway, I always have old Lucy following me in Skyrim now, and this is inspired by what he says when you go to Riften: "I do so love Riften. I travelled here in my youth. A thief took my purse, so I took his eyes. It was a fair exchange." I laughed out loud when I heard that, and this just popped into my head. **

**If you want to know exactly where this takes place, it's behind the house called Honeyside, which I think is the house you can buy in Riften.**

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><p>My work as an assassin for the Dark Brotherhood has certainly taken me far from my home. My target foolishly thought he could escape the Void simply by fleeing Cyrodiil. What a waste of time. People just do not understand that once a contract has been taken out on you, there is no way out. You can't buy your way out. You can't talk your way out. And you can't just run to another province and hope we'll say "Oh well, nevermind." There is no escape from the Night Mother.<p>

And so, I had to track him all the way to Skyrim. The contract could not simply be passed on to one of the Sanctuaries there – I was the one given the contract, and I must be the one to fulfil it. It was, I shall admit, more difficult than I would have liked – while I know my way around my home province well enough, and have a series of contacts useful in providing me with information, here, I have no such knowledge. Trying to find my way through this unfamiliar, harsh terrain was certainly no easy task. But I found him, as I knew I eventually would, at a little camp not far from Winterhold. Still, he tried pleading for his life, trying to ply me with offers of gold and jewels... but as I said, there's no escaping from the Dark Brotherhood. So finally, in no mood to humour my target after my long and tiresome journey, I cut him down, slicing my dagger across his throat before he'd even finished speaking.

The bright crimson of his blood _did _contrast rather nicely with the crisp, white snow at our feet.

With my work completed, I began the long journey home to Cyrodiil. Tired from trekking across this cold, unforgiving land, I decided to stay for a day or two in Riften, a small town close to the border, before making my way further south. It was, I supposed, my kind of town – full of ne'er do wells, and the inn is pleasant enough. And I _do_ so enjoy taking the odd night time stroll, even if there are those who are stupid enough to try and sneak up on an assassin of the Dark Brotherhood.

The thief gave a terrified squeak as my hand closed about his wrist, inches away from my coin purse, and I hauled him away, into the pitch blackness behind a house, close to the town walls. I slammed him up against the stone, my hand around his throat, regarding him with a smirk, even though anger was coursing through my veins. How dare he?

"Did you _really_ think you could sneak up on _me?_" I hissed. "Dear boy, you have no idea what you're dealing with." I tightened my hold – not enough to strangle him, but enough to show my displeasure. "Perhaps I should send your soul to Sithis as punishment for your insolence." The young man – Bosmer, by the look of him – paled at my words.

"S-Sithis?" he spluttered. "You mean... you're not... you're... one of _them?_ No, please! I'm sorry! I'm sorry! I won't do it again! Please! Please don't kill me, _please-_"

And again with the pleading. Why do people always think _please_ will get me to reconsider? I am a cold, merciless killer. This is what I live for. I don't even need an excuse to kill, but this boy just happened to give me one. My free hand went to the dagger at my hip, and the Wood Elf stared at me with wide, terrified eyes.

Hmmm... actually, that's giving me an idea.

"Maybe I _won't_ kill you," I murmur. I carry on speaking over his rushed words of thanks. "But you _do_ deserve some kind of punishment, after all..." The elf immediately fell silent. I could practically see the wheels turning frantically in his head, thinking of all the things I could possibly do to him. If he knew what I was, as he appeared to, some of them should frighten him more than mere death. Giving him one of my more sinister smiles, I raised my dagger, lightly trailing it up his neck, over his chin, across his cheek, before stopping it just under his right eye.

"Yes... I think this shall do nicely."

He seemed to realise what I was about to do a split second before it happened. "No, wait-!" he cried, screwing his eyes shut, but he was soon screaming in agony as I drove the tip of my small blade into his eye socket, gouging out the soft orb beneath. Blood spurted forth, and I watched in fascination as his eye almost seemed to _pop_, a kind of white, gooey liquid mixing with the red. I held his throat tighter, to cut off his ability to scream. He pushed at me desperately, struggling, but I held firm. Moving quickly, I repeated this action with his left eye, and he gave a strangled gasp, my grip against his neck preventing any further noise. A shame, really. I _do_ so love it when they scream.

Releasing my hold on him, he fell down to the ground, his hands rising up to his face, covering the empty, mutilated spots where his eyes had been just a few seconds before. Yet more blood seeped down through his fingers as he shuddered in agony, coughing harshly through his bruised throat.

Smirking, I looked down at my handiwork, but knew I would have to take my leave soon. While I did my best to muffle his cries, his initial yell would still have certainly alerted any nearby guards, and sure enough, I could hear distant shouting, and armoured, running footsteps were drawing closer. I had no fear, however – with my skill in chameleon spells I could disappear in an instant. Shimmering out of the visible spectrum, I leant down close to his ear and whispered to him, my sudden closeness making him jump.

"You take my purse... I take your eyes. It was a fair exchange. Don't you agree?"

**End.**


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